rout

plural routs

1. countableobsoleteA group of people; a crowd, a throng, a troop; in particular (archaic), a group of people accompanying or travelling with someone.

   'Is there anyone in this rout with authority to treat with me?' he asked.

   1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 315

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   A route of people there aſſembled were, / Of euery ſort and nation vnder skye, [...]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 44, page 284

   The Incorporations this year did moſtly conſiſt of Cantabrigians who had lately come to this University for preferment from the Viſitors, when the great rout of Royalliſts were by then made in this University.

   1691, [Anthony Wood], “Fasti Oxonienses”, in Athenæ Oxonienses. An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who have had Their Education in the Most Ancient and Famous University of Oxford from the Fifteenth Year of King Henry the Seventh, Dom. 1500, to the End of the Year 1690. […], volume I (Extending to the 16th Year of King Charles I. Dom. 1640), London: […] Tho[mas] Bennet […], →OCLC, column 744

   Synonyms: company, gathering

2. archaiccollectivecountableA group of animals, especially one which is lively or unruly, or made up of wild animals such as wolves; a flock, a herd, a pack.

   The harts and hinds in their herds, the boars in their singulars, the skulls of foxes, the richesses of martens, the bevies of roes, the cetes of badgers and the routs of wolves - all came to him more or less as something which you either skinned or flayed and then took home to cook.

   1958, T.H. White, The Once and Future King

3. collectivecountableA group or assortment of snails.

   We spot several routs of snails moving around, half buried in the sandy beach.

   2022 December 15, Tania Banerjee, “Offbeat Mumbai: A shorewalk in Juhu”, in Azure Sky Follows

   2 more examples

   hiruvananthapuram: Routs of snails are invading parts of the city, sending residents into a tizzy, amid fears that they would pose a health hazard

   August 4, 2011, Mohamed Nazeer, “Archived copy”, in The Hindu News, archived from the original on 20 Sep 2018

   Researchers in Japan have altered the destiny of a rout of snails by changing the chirality of their shells before birth.

   26 Nov 2009, James Dacey, “Snail shell spiral switched”, in Physics World

   Synonyms: escargatoire

4. countableA group of disorganized things.
5. countableA group of (often violent) criminals or gangsters; such people as a class; (more generally) a disorderly and tumultuous crowd, a mob; hence (archaic, preceded by the), the common people as a group, the rabble.

   Nor do I name of men the common rout, / That wandring looſe about / Grow up and periſh, as the ſummer flie, [...]

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 44, lines 675–677

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   Beſides the endleſſe routs of wretched thralles, / VVhich thether were aſſembled day by day, / From all the world after their wofull falles, / Through wicked pride, and waſted welthes decay.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 51, page 74

   The Ring-leader and Head of all this Rout, / Haue practis'd dangerouſly againſt your State, / Dealing with Witches and with Coniurers, [...]

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 127, column 2

   When Gospel-Trumpeter surrounded, / With long-ear'd rout to Battel sounded, / And Pulpit, Drum Ecclesiastick, / Was beat with fist, instead of a stick:

   1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]. Canto I.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 3

   [A]lthough there must have been nearly a hundred mongrel celebrants in the throng, the police relied on their firearms and plunged determinedly into the nauseous rout.

   1928 February, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”, in Farnsworth Wright, editor, Weird Tales: A Magazine of the Bizarre and Unusual, volume XI, number 2, Indianapolis, Ind.: Popular Fiction Publishing Company, →OCLC

   For it was clearly in search of her that the rabble rout had come. The dancing nymphs hailed her with joyful giggles, the poodle sprang on her with dusty paws, and then turned a somersault in her honour, and from the driver's box came the twang of a guitar and the familiar wail of: Nita, Juanita, ask thy soul if we must part?

   1938, Edith Wharton, chapter IV, in Gaillard [Thomas] Lapsley, editor, The Buccaneers, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton-Century Company, →OCLC, book I, page 43

6. countabledatedA fashionable assembly; a large evening party, a soirée.

   The ancients have always been opposed to them; just as, at routs and dances, elderly beauties to younger.

   1826, Walter Savage Landor, “Conversation IV. Southey and Porson.”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 78

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   The Ducheſs or Marlborough had one of the grandeſt routs that has been given for ſome time, almoſt the whole of the firſt people of rank and faſhion in England being preſent. This being a new birth to conviviality in Marlborough Houſe, and the firſt rout for theſe ſeven laſt years, it was uncommonly crouded.

   1783 May, “Domestic Occurrences. [Thursday 8.]”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle, volume LIII, London: […] John Nichols, for D. Henry, […], and sold by E[lizabeth] Newbery, […], →OCLC, page 444, column 2

   Come then, ſweet ſpring's delights to taſte; / No longer, my Maria, waſte / Thoſe hours in routs and noiſe, [...]

   1799 January, “An Ode. The Invitation.”, in The Monthly Magazine, or British Register, volume VII, part I, number XLI, London: […] R[ichard] Phillips, […], →OCLC, page 43, column 1

   The envoys were not often compelled to forego the toilet for the desk, nor the beaux secretaires, to give up their lessons on the guitar for the drudgery of copying dispatches. A "protocol" would have scared the gentle state from its propriety; and the arrival of the Morning Post, once a week from London, with the account of routs in which they had not shared, and the anticipation of dinners and déjeûnés which they were never to enjoy, was the only pain which Diplomacy suffered to raise a ripple on the tranquil surface of its soul.

   1832 January, “The Premier and His Wife: A Story of the Great World”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXI, number CLXXXIX, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 91, column 2

   By a little inquiry regarding his mother's engagements, he was pretty soon able to find out by whom of her ladyship's friends parties were given at that season; where he would be likely to meet Osborne's sisters; and, though he had that abhorrence of routs and evening parties which many sensible men, alas, entertain, he soon found one where the Miss Osbornes were to be present.

   1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Captain Dobbin Proceeds on His Canvass”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 194

7. archaiccountableA noisy disturbance; also, a disorderly argument or fight, a brawl; (uncountable) disturbance of the peace, commotion, tumult.

   "Nay, child! it is not well," I said, / "Among the graves to shout; / To laugh and play among the dead, / And make this noisy rout."

   1838, Richard Chenevix Trench, “A Walk in a Church-yard”, in Sabbation; Honor Neale; and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza II, page 62

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   Hearing the rout, Dame Gill came out, With a horse whip from the door, She laid it on Jack, And poor Jill's back, Until they both did roar.

   1810, Jack and Jill, and old Dame Gill, York: J. Kendrew, page 14

8. countablehistoricallawAn illegal assembly of people; specifically, three or more people who have come together intending to do something illegal, and who have taken steps towards this, regarded as more serious than an unlawful assembly but not as serious as a riot; the act of assembling in this manner.

present singular third person routs · participle present routing · participle past routed · past routed

1. intransitiveobsoleteTo assemble in a crowd, whether orderly or disorderly; to collect in company.

   Whereupon the meaner ſort [of people] routed together, and ſuddenly aſſayling the Earle [i.e., Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland] in his Houſe, ſlew him, and diuers of his ſeruants.

   1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC, page 68

2. obsoletetransitiveTo cause to move.

   "Why, God be thanked, ma'am, I'm stout and hearty; and though I say it mysilf, there's not an ould woman in the county can stir about betther nor me, and I'm up ivery mornin' at the peep of day, and rout them all up out of their beds. Don't I?" said she, looking at Mary.

   1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 380

plural routs

1. The act of completely defeating an army or other enemy force, causing it to retreat in a disorganized manner; (by extension) in politics, sport, etc.: a convincing defeat; a thrashing, a trouncing.

   The rout of the enemy was complete.

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   The visiting football team was put to rout.

   From Thrace they fly, call'd to the dire Alarms / Of warring Phlegyans, and Emphyrian Arms; / Invok'd by both, relentleſs they diſpoſe / To theſe, glad Conqueſt, murd'rous Rout to thoſe.

   1718, Homer, “Book XIII”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Iliad of Homer, volume IV, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 21, lines 390–393

   His position had come to him—why? Perhaps because he was never ill… He had served three terms of three years out there… Because triumphant health in the general rout of constitutions is a kind of power in itself.

   1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 211

   It was only the outstanding [Petr] Cech that stood between Arsenal and a second-half rout as Spurs simply swamped their opponents after the break with a formidable display of power, pace and sheer intensity.

   2018 February 10, Phil McNulty, “Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 0 Arsenal”, in BBC Sport, archived from the original on 07 Nov 2020

2. alsofigurativelygovernmentThe retreat of an enemy force, etc., in this manner; also (archaic, rare), the army, enemy force, etc., so retreating.

   And the authorities in Moscow presented the rout in the northeast as a planned “regrouping.”

   2022 September 11, Andrew E. Kramer, Andrew Higgins, “Ukraine Routs Russian Forces in Northeast, Forcing a Retreat”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

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   [T]hy Army preſently, / (As if they could not ſtand, when thou wert downe) / Diſperſt in rout, betooke them all to flie: [...]

   1609, Samuel Daniel, “The Fovrth Booke”, in The Civile Wares betweene the Howses of Lancaster and Yorke […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes for] Simon Watersonne, →OCLC, stanza 56, page 101

   Small contingents of Russian troops across the country have tried to train the Syrian army into a more professional force (the rout in Aleppo suggests those efforts have gone poorly).

   2024 December 4, “Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is in mortal danger”, in The Economist, →ISSN

present singular third person routs · participle present routing · participle past routed · past routed

1. transitiveTo completely defeat and force into disorderly retreat (an enemy force, opponent in sport, etc.).

   They write with eloquence against the men, using the men’s own language to embarrass them and sometimes even to rout them.

   1977, Larry Mitchell, “It Takes All Kinds to Make the Revolutions”, in The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions, New York, N.Y.: Nightboat Books, published 2020, →ISBN, part 2 (The Energy of Oppression), page 86

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   [T]hat Party of the King's Horſe which Charged the Scots, ſo totally Routed and defeated their whole Army, that they fled all ways for many Miles together, and were knock'd on the head, and taken Priſoners by the Country, [...]

   1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, book VIII, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], volume II, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the [Sheldonian] Theater, page 503

   Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip after Hamas routed secular Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and seized control of the enclave in June 2007.

   2009 January 30, Adam Entous, “Mitchell Warns of Setbacks ahead in Mideast Talks”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 02 Feb 2009

2. archaicintransitiveTo retreat from a confrontation in disorder.

   The Ra division broke in panic and fled up against the just-arriving Amon division, which as a result began to rout as well.

   2005, Brian Todd Carey, “Warfare in the Ancient Near East: The Bronze and Early Iron Ages”, in Warfare in the Ancient World, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Military, published 2013, →ISBN, page 18

present singular third person routs · participle present routing · participle past routed · past routed

1. EnglandintransitiveregionalTo snore, especially loudly.
2. EnglandintransitiveregionalTo make a noise; to bellow, to roar, to snort.
3. ScotlandarchaicintransitiveEspecially of the sea, thunder, wind, etc.: to make a loud roaring noise; to howl, to roar, to rumble.

plural routs

1. ScotlandA loud, resounding noise, especially one made by the sea, thunder, wind, etc.; a roar.

present singular third person routs · participle present routing · participle past routed · past routed

1. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandtransitiveOf a person: to say or shout (something) loudly.
2. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandintransitiveOf a person: to speak loudly; to bellow, roar, to shout.
3. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandintransitiveOf an animal, especially cattle: to low or moo loudly; to bellow.

plural routs

1. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandA lowing or mooing sound by an animal, especially cattle; a bellow, a moo.
2. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandA loud shout; a bellow, a roar; also, an instance of loud and continued exclamation or shouting; a clamour, an outcry.

   And what of this new book the whole world makes ſuch a rout about?—Oh! 'tis out of all plumb, my Lord,—quite an irregular thing!

   1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, page 58

present singular third person routs · participle present routing · participle past routed · past routed

1. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandtransitiveTo dig or plough (earth or the ground); to till.
2. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandtransitiveUsually followed by out or up: of a person: to search for and find (something); also (transitive) to completely empty or clear out (something).
3. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandUStransitiveUsually followed by from: to compel (someone) to leave a place; specifically (usually followed by out or up), to cause (someone) to get out of bed.

   Nevertheless, he was always stimulated by Winsett, and whenever he caught sight of the journalist's lean bearded face and melancholy eyes he would rout him out of his corner and carry him off for a long talk.

   1920, Edith Wharton, chapter XIV, in The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, book I, page 122

4. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandambitransitiveOf an animal, especially a pig: to search (for something) in the ground with the snout; to root.

   Here was Christmas with some Shorthorns, a black sow of Black Diamond blood, and one of the very best of the day, busily routing by the brook side, and a two-year-old cross between a blood horse and a Suffolk mare.

   1864 July, H. H. B., “The Herds of Great Britain”, in The Farmer’s Magazine, volume XXIV (Third Series; volume LVI overall), number 1, London: Rogerson and Tuxford, […], →OCLC, chapter XLIV (The Butley Abbey, the Playford, and the Wherstead), page 6

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   [L]et us try to realise a party of people arriving before daybreak, on a cold mizzly morning, at a sloppy piece of grassland, routed up by vagrant pigs, and poached into holes by horses out for their Sunday holiday, [...]

   1859, “The Merrie Days of England”, in The National Magazine, volume V, London: W. Kent & Co. […], →OCLC, page 154, column 1

5. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandambitransitiveTo use a gouge, router, or other tool to scoop out material (from a metallic, wooden, etc., surface), forming a groove or recess.
6. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandintransitiveOf a person: to search through belongings, a place, etc.; to rummage.

present singular third person routs · participle present routing · participle past routed · past routed

1. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandtransitiveUsually followed by out or up: to dig or pull up (a plant) by the roots; to extirpate, to uproot.
2. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandfigurativelytransitiveUsually followed by out: to find and eradicate (something harmful or undesirable); to root out.

present singular third person routs · participle present routing · participle past routed · past routed

1. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandambitransitivearchaicTo beat or strike (someone or something); to assail (someone or something) with blows.

plural routs

1. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandarchaicA violent movement; a heavy or stunning blow or stroke.

plural routs

1. Northern EnglandNorthern IrelandScotlandobsoleteThe brant or brent goose (Branta bernicla).

   Synonyms: brant goose, road-goose, rood goose, rot-goose